In today’s world, innovation does not happen single-handedly. With companies like Quirky that make innovation accessible through an online community of inventors to technologies like MakerBot that have made a 3D printer affordable enough for people to design and print right in their living rooms—innovation is happening in big manufacturing plants, small backyards and everywhere in between.

In today’s world, innovation means collaboration. Through GE’s Global Research network of eight sites in the U.S., India, China, Germany, Brazil and Israel, we have more than 300 collaborations with top universities, governments, other companies (both big and small) and research institutions to accelerate innovation for our businesses and for the world. Below are a few of the ongoing collaborations between our researchers and other companies, universities and government agencies.

GE and MIT: Building Crowdsourcing Software Platform to Revolutionize Product Design and Manufacturing 

Working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA), we successfully completed a program “vehicleforge.mil” to develop a crowdsourcing platform that would enable a global community of experts to design and rapidly manufacture complex systems such as military vehicles, aviation systems and advanced medical devices. These “cyber-physical systems” can take decades to develop. The primary goal of this program was to demonstrate a platform that could help dramatically reduce that timeline. The new crowdsourcing platform is a key part of GE’s efforts to build the Industrial Internet and accelerate manufacturing process and product developments. View the New York Times story to learn more.

GE and The US Department of Veteran’s Affairs: Partnering on Hospital Management

Working with GE Healthcare and the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA), Global Research scientists will develop a prototype system capable of managing the surgical tool sterilization process in a hospital—ensuring safe delivery of care, enabling new levels of hospital efficiency, and delivering with surgical accuracy all of the medical devices doctors need to perform life-saving procedures. View the Popular Science article to learn more.

GE’s Israel Technology Center: Advancing Key Technologies in Israel for the World

In 2008, we established a technology center in Tel Aviv to expand our connections with emerging tech companies in Israel and to advance great technologies and products all over the world. In fact, some of our most exciting breakthroughs in medical imaging have come directly from our partnerships, including new medical imaging products in Ultrasound, CT, nuclear medicine and MR. One of the Israel Technology Center’s recent collaborations is with Capital Nature Technology Center, related to the development of green energy technologies in Israel. Israel is one of the world’s top innovation hotspots, and we think so much can be gained by working together to advance key technologies that the world needs and is demanding.

GE and Memorial Sloan Kettering: Studying to Improve Diagnosis of Early Stage Colon Cancer

Our scientists have an ongoing study with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), one of the world’s premier cancer centers, to better understand the early stages of colon cancer. The goal is to yield new insights that improve treatment selection and outcomes for cancer patients in the future. View the GE News Release to learn more.

GE and Virginia Polytechnic Institute: Developing Wind Blades That Could Be The “Fabric” of our Clean Energy Future

GE researchers along with Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Virginia Tech, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working on a new manufacturing approach to making wind turbine blades that involves architectural fabrics. It could fundamentally change the way wind blades are designed, manufactured and installed and result in substantially lower wind energy costs. View the GE News Release here.